Quotations

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

The Fellowship of the Ring

• [The dwarves] were the hobbits' main source of news from distant parts - if they wanted any; as a rule dwarves said little and hobbits asked no more. But now Frodo often met strange dwarves of far countries, seeking refuge in the West. They were troubled, and some spoke in whispers of the Enemy and of the Land of Mordor.
  That name the hobbits only knew in legends of the dark past, like a shadow in the background of their memories; but it was ominous and disquieting.
• Orcs were multiplying again in the mountains. Trolls were abroad, no longer dull-witted, but cunning and armed with dreadful weapons. And there were murmured hints of creatures more terrible than all these, but they had no name.

The Shire, p72

• "This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power. He greatly desires it - but he must not get it... he may even think that the long-unnoticed name of Baggins has become important".

Gandalf to Frodo, pp60,68.

• "He deserves death"
  "Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be eager to deal out death in judgement."

Gandalf and Frodo about Gollum, p93

• A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed. "Hobbits!", he thought. "Well, what next?" I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this." He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.

A fox, p108

• "Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?"
  "But it is not your own Shire", said Gildor. "Others dwelt here before Hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more."
• That Gandalf should be late, does not bode well. But it is said :
  "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

Frodo and Gildor, p123

• Then I'll tell you what to think." said Maggot. "You should never have gone mixing yourself up with Hobbiton folk, Mr. Frodo. Folk are queer up there." Sam stirred in his chair, and looked at the farmer with an unfriendly eye.

Farmer Maggot to Frodo, p136

• "These Black Riders: I am not sure, but I think, I fear they come from ---"
  "They come from Mordor", said Strider in a low voice. "From Mordor, Barliman, if that means anything to you."
  "Save us!" cried Mr. Butterbur turning pale; the name evidently was known to him.

At the Prancing Poney, p229

• "Open, in the name of Mordor!", said a voice thin and menacing. (...)
  AWAKE! FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE!(...)
  The Brandybucks were blowing the Horn-call of Buckland, that had not been sounded for a hundreds years, not since the white wolves came in the Fell Winter."

Buckland, p239

• "It is but a trifle that Sauron fancies... "

A messager from Mordor to Dáin, p317

• "This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?"

Elrond, p354

• "I had only to speak the Elvish word for friend and the doors opened. Quite simple. Too simple for a learned loremaster in these suspicious days. Those were happier times."

Gandalf in front of Mordor, p402

• "He is surer of finding the way home in a blind night that the cats of Queen Berethiel."

Aragorn about Gandalf, p405

• "Here is written in the tongues of Men and Dwarves: BALIN SON OF FUNDIN LORD OF MORIA"
  "He is dead then", said Frodo. "I feared it was so."
  Gimli cast his hood over his face.

The Fellowship in Moriar, p416

• "Look, my friends!", he called. "Here's a pretty hobbit-skin to wrap an elven-princeling in! If it were known that hobbits had such hides, all the hunters of Middle-Earth would be riding to the Shire."
  "And all the arrows of all the hunters in the world would be in vain," said Gimli, gazing at the mail in wonder.

Aragorn taking off Frodo's Mithril corslet, p436

• "I will go forward free", he said, "or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness."

Gimli to Haldir in Lorien, p450

• "Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the many-pillared halls of Khazad-dum in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the stone." She looked upon Gimli, who sat glowering and sad, and she smiled. And the Dwarf, hearing the names given in his own ancient tongue, looked up and met her eyes; and it seemed to him that he looked suddenly into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding. Wonder came into his face, and then he smiled in answer.
  He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying :
  "Yet more fair is the living land of Lorien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the Earth!"

Galadriel and Gimli, p461

• "You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair!"

Galadriel to Frodo, p473

• "Nothing, unless it might be -- unless it is permitted to ask, nay, to name a single strand of your hair, which surpasses the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of the mine". (...)
  "But if hope should not fail, then I say to you, Gimli son of Gloin, that your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold shall have no dominion."

Gimli and Galadriel, p487

• "We will go, and may the others find a safe road! Strider will look after them. I don't suppose we shall see them again."
  "Yet we may, Mr. Frodo. We may." said Sam.

Frodo and Sam, p526

The Two Towers

The Return of the King

• "At the sunrise I shall take you to the Lord Denethor again. No, when the summons comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn."

Gandalf to Pippin in Gondor, p52

• "For I ride on an errand most urgent, and with the first light of morning we must go."
  She smiled on him and said : "Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so many miles out of your way to bring tidings to Eowyn, and to speak with her in her exile."
  "Indeed no man would count such a journey wasted," said Aragorn, "and yet, Lady, I could not have come hither, if it were not that the road which I must take leads me in Dunharrow."
  And she answered as one that likes not what it is said : "Then, lord, you are astray; for out of Harrowdale no road runs east or south; and you had best return as you came."
  "Nay, lady," said he, "I am not astray; for I walked in this land ere you were born to grace it. There is a road out of this valley, and that road I shall take. Tomorrow I shall ride by the Paths of the Dead."

Aragorn and Eowyn in Dunharrow, p66

• "Shall I always be chosen?", she said bitterly. "Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they win renown, and find food and beds when they return?"
  "A time may come soon", said he, "when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defence of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised."
  And she answered : "All your words are but to say : you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death."

idem, p67

• A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day.

The fell beast, p140

• "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"
  A cold voice answered : "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."
  A sword rang as it was drawn. "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."
  "Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"
  (...) "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you are not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."
  (...) the Ringwraith made no answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt.
• And a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up and was never heard again in that age of this world.

The Nazgul's death, p143

• "Eowyn, Eowyn!", he cried at last, "Eowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death takes us all!"
  (...) Over the field rang his clear voice calling : "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and world's ending!"
  And with that the host began to move. But the Rohirrim sang no more. Death they cried with one voice loud and terrible.

Eomer finding his sister, p145

• But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dunedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king.

Merry watching his word, p146

• For once more lust of battle was on him; and [Eomer] was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king : the lord of a fell people. And lo! even as he laughed at despair he looked out again on the black ships, and he lifted up his sword to defy them.
  And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold.
  Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead.

• But the hosts of Mordor were seized with bewilderment, and a great wizardry it seemed to them that their own ships should be filled with their foes; and a black dread fell on them, knowing that the tides of fate had turned against them and their doom was at hand.

• And not one living foe was left within the circuit of the Rammas. All were slain save those who fled to die, or to drown in the red foam of the River. Few ever came eastward to Morgul or Mordor; and to the land of the Haradrim came only a tale from far off : a rumour of the wrath and terror of Gondor.

The battle of the Pelennor fields, p149

• And those who were stricken with it fell slowly into an ever deeper dream, and then passed to silence and a deadly cold, and so died.

• For it is said in old lore : The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.

The Black Shadow, p166

• The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said : "I am the Mouth of Sauron".

• "So!", said the Messenger. "Then thou art the spokesman, old greybeard? Have we not heard of thee at whiles, and of thy wanderings, ever hatching plots and mischief at a safe distance?"

The Black gate opens, p201

• But the Nazgûl turned and fled, and vanished into Mordor's shadows, hearing a sudden terrible call out of the Dark Tower, and even at that moment all the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts, their laughter failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed.
  The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they saw a deadly light and were afraid.

• But Gandalf lifted up his arms and called once more in a clear voice.
  "Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom."

• "The realm of Sauron is ended!" said Gandalf. "The Ring-bearer has fulfilled his Quest." And as the Captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, it seemed to them that, black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast threatening hand, terrible but impotent : for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed.

The Field of Cormallen, p278

• And the Shadow departed, and the Sun was unveiled, and light leaped forth; and the waters of Anduin shone like silver, and in all the houses of the City men sang for the joy that welled up in their hearts from what source they could not tell.
  And before the Sun had fallen far from the noon out of the East there came a great Eagle flying, and he bore tidings beyond hope from the Lords of the West, crying :
  
  Sing now, ye people of the Tower of Anor,
  for the Realm of Sauron is ended for ever,
  and the Dark Tower is thrown down.
  
  Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard,
  for your watch hath not been in vain,
  and the Black Gate is broken,
  and your King hath passed through,
  and he is victorious,
  
  Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,
  for your King shall come again,
  and he shall dwell among you
  all the days of your life.
  
  And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed,
  and he shall plant it in the high places,
  and the City shall be blessed.
  
  Sing all ye, people!

• "Then must I leave my own people, man of Gondor?" [Eowyn] said. "And would you have your proud folk say of you: "There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North! Was there no woman of the race of Númenor to choose?"

The Steward and the King, p297

• If any wandered had chanced to pass, little would he have seen or heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved in stone, memorials of forgotten things now lost in unpeopled lands. For they did not move or speak with mouth, looking from mind to mind; and only their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went to and fro.

Many Partings, p325

• "I think, Frodo, that maybe you will not need to come back, unless you come very soon. For about this time of the year, when the leaves are gold before they fall, look for Bilbo in the woods of the Shire. I shall be with him."

Elrond to Frodo in Rivendell, p330

• Then the hobbits suddenly realized that people had looked at them with amazement not out of surprise at their return so much as in wonder at their gear. They themselves had become so used to warfare and to riding in well-arrayed companies that they had quite forgotten that the bright mail peeping from under their cloaks, and the helms of Gondor and the Mark, and the fair devices on their shields, would seem outlandish in their own country.

Homeward bound, p336

• Still round the corner there may wait
  A new road or a secret gate;
  And though I oft have passed them by,
  A day will come at last when I
  Shall take the hidden paths that run
  West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

From an old walking-song, p381.

• "Well, I'm back", he said.

The Grey Havens, p385.

Other Sources

• Twisting the skills he learned from the Elven-smiths, the Dark Lord created a Ring of awesome, malevolent power, a Ring to control all the other Rings of Power, bending them to the will of whoever controlled the One.
  And then, the One Ring was lost.

The Complete Guide to Middle - Earth